EVEN though life has to go on, in New York it is going to be vastly different following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Messages of sympathy adorning flowers left in Washington Square, Midtown Manhattan, sum up the feeling on the streets of New York.

In Uptown, buildings remain undamaged but the infamous 'Noo York' attitude is gone.

It's not what the New Yorkers are saying; it's what they're not saying.

Streets usually alive to the sound of jeering, screaming and shouting lay silent as people walked by, their minds preoccupied with their own vulnerability.

The only cry was from a street sweeper when the acrid smoke started to blow towards Central Park who shouted: 'It's terrible, they're poisoning the city'.

Downtown, where the towers collapsed, only emergency vehicles and personnel were allowed into areas usually bustling with workers controlling the economy of this great city, country and the world.

People crowded the streets at the barriers.

Some holding photos of missing relatives struggled to hide their tears as they asked passers-by whether they had seen anyone matching the picture.

Others had turned up to watch the stream of vehicles pouring into the disaster site.

One man had the words 'Don't mess with the US' emblazoned on his t-shirt.

Another held up a banner proclaiming 'God blesses the US'.

Two girls stood by the side of the road holding signs, which said 'Thank you my heroes'.

One worker shouted from a truck as it blared past: 'We're gonna' clean up this mess'.

Sadly the real reason behind the operation was all too clear as, in the background, a ferry could be seen carrying the bodies of those killed to Staten Island where a makeshift morgue had been assembled.

It wasn't a clean-up operation, it was a rescue and, in many cases, a retrieval operation.

Uptown, everyone was off work and children were on the streets but it wasn't a holiday.

Every time they tried to forget, all they had to do was look up at the huge cloud that engulfed the island, and see the gap where once the twin towers stood.

Acrid smoke blew up Fifth Avenue, one of the world best shopping areas.

Yet today, doors were locked and shops were closed. The terrorists had shut the city and robbed the people of its freedom.

One New Yorker said: 'There's a void. It's funny you don't know how much you miss something until it's gone.'